Mrs. Calvert was leaning on the casement and looking out when her
companion addressed these words to her, and by far too much engaged to
return any answer, for her eyes were riveted on two young men who
approached from the farther end of the village; and at length, turning
round her head, she said, with the most intense interest, "Proceed
farther on our journey, did you say? That we need not do; for, as I
live, here comes the very man!"
Mrs. Logan ran to the window, and, behold, there was indeed Robert
Wringhim Colwan (now the Laird of Dalcastle) coming forward almost
below their window, walking arm in arm with another young man; and, as
the two passed, the latter looked up and made a sly signal to the two
dames, biting his lip, winking with his left eye, and nodding his head.
Mrs. Calvert was astonished at this recognizance, the young man's
former companion having made exactly such another signal on the night
of the duel, by the light of the moon; and it struck her, moreover,
that she had somewhere seen this young man's face before. She looked
after him, and he winked over his shoulder to her; but she was
prevented from returning his salute by her companion, who uttered a
loud cry, between a groan and shriek, and fell down on the floor with a
rumble like a wall that had suddenly been undermined. She had fainted
quite away, and required all her companion's attention during the
remainder of the evening, for she had scarcely ever well recovered out
of one fit before she fell into another, and in the short intervals she
raved like one distracted or in a dream. After falling into a sound
sleep by night, she recovered her equanimity, and the two began to
converse seriously on what they had seen. Mrs. Calvert averred that the
young man who passed next to the window was the very man who stabbed
George Colwan in the back, and she said she was willing to take her
oath on it at any time when required, and was certain, if the wretch
Ridsley saw him, that he would make oath to the same purport, for that
his walk was so peculiar no one of common discernment could mistake it.
Mrs. Logan was in great agitation, and said: "It is what I have
suspected all along, and what I am sure my late master and benefactor
was persuaded of, and the horror of such an idea cut short his days.
That wretch, Mrs. Calvert, is the born brother of him he murdered, sons
of the same mother they were, whether or not of the same father, the
Lord only knows. But, Oh, Mrs. Calvert, that is not the main thing that
has discomposed me, and shaken my nerves to pieces at this time. Who do
you think the young man was who walked in his company to-night?"
"I cannot for my life recollect, but am convinced I have seen the same
fine form and face before."
"And did not he seem to know us, Mrs. Calvert? You who are able to
recollect things as they happened, did he not seem to recollect us, and
make signs to that effect?"
"He did, indeed, and apparently with great good humour."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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